Life Is a Journey of Jobs

谋事在人, 成事在天

Man proposes, God disposes.

--- Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong

 

With this, we come to the end of this series. We started with a general definition, understanding the job as a task. A task is to accomplish a goal. So the first thing is to set a goal, then accomplish it.

For every person, and even every animal, to survive in this world is the first and final goal.

After centuries of evolution, human society has developed a system of structural hierarchy: governments, institutions, companies, international laws, rules… We are living under such a system, our life becomes structural: starting with a learning phase, then a career phase, and ending in a retirement phase.

Every phase has its different goals. In the learning phase, the goal is to learn basic skills and knowledge; in the career phase, the goal is to make money; in the retirement phase, the goal is to end our life gracefully. A goal in the previous phase is the basis of the next phase.

With the goals built in mind, people make the efforts to fulfill the goals and like cogs in a system, human society moves forward. Life is a journey of fulfillment of tasks. Enjoy life on this journey.

Every one of us is part of the torrent of the times. The fortunate or the unfortunate, the lucky or the unlucky, everything depends on ourselves, depends on how we behave ourselves and how we interact with each other.

This is the end of this series, but it may be a new start for you to thrive in the job market. If there is any sentence that ignites within you a new idea, don’t ignore the idea.

Do your retrospective study, and make your version of 5W1H of something, you will live a more exciting life!

Where Can You Find a Job

敢问路在何方？路在脚下。

Dare to ask where is the way? The road is on your feet!

                          --- Theme song of television show Journey to the West

 

Everything is online

In this age of information, everything can be found online. Companies build their websites, set up channels on social media platforms, and people can easily access all the information about their products and services. This is the way for the job seeker to get to know and understand the company’s business.

Besides traditional job advertisements in the newspaper, many Internet platforms provide information about job opportunities from companies all over the world.

Some platforms, like LinkedIn, build a bridge between individuals and companies. You can view the job opportunities provided by the companies and apply via simple operations through the LinkedIn App. Alternatively, you can also register and post your job-seeking information for others to view and contact you by.

Your information on the Internet is then important if you want to increase your chances of getting a job you want. Do build up a good profile for yourself and present yourself well across different platforms.

 

Networking 

When you have a problem, what will you do?

A.   Look for advice from the Internet (DIY: do it yourself)

B.   Look for advice from family and friends

C.   Look for advice from a paid consultant

Obviously, human nature will make you select C after options A and B have been exhausted. When a company advertises a job vacancy, it follows the same logic: nobody could solve the problem the company had so employers had to turn to the job market to employ you. However, this is only after they have failed to find people from “family and friends”, i.e. existing staff and other people they know.

This is the importance of networking. Try to get known to more people, let them know what you are doing and what you would like to do. This way, others may help introduce you when there is a job opportunity that suits your skills and interests. Of course, this is a bonus to your job searching effort. First and foremost, you need to build up your reputation so that other people are inclined towards helping you. If you do not behave with a good attitude, constantly job-hopping, at the end of the day, your friends will try to avoid you.

 

Break out of your zone of discomfort

Business magnate Elon Musk was the richest person in the world as of December 2021. He was born in a rich family in South Africa but had a miserable childhood from both his family and his secondary school. His mother was a victim of domestic violence since her honeymoon with his father. His father was "a terrible human being... Almost every evil thing you could think of, he has done." In secondary school, he was a target for bullies for a long time.

This tragic childhood forced him to leave the place for Canada, where his mother was born, once he turned 18. After one year in Canada making a living by doing odd jobs, he moved to the United States for his university studies. From then on, he became a millionaire and then a billionaire.

He decided to go to the United States because he once travelled there during his childhood and got to know that there was such a heavenly place compared to South Africa.

When you feel uncomfortable at your current job, try a new life at a different place. Do some research and make a short visit to those intended places, it may give you a better life.

 

Get out of your comfort zone

This does not mean you should stick to your comfort zone. The outside world is risky, and staying where you are familiar could be tempting. Millions of years ago, those who were curious about the external world were likely to be killed by tigers, lions, or snakes during their adventures. Only the genes of those that remained in the protected zones could be passed on to the future generations.

Most people fall into this trap and never try a different life. Comfort may kill you in the sense that you prevent yourself from potentially getting a better life. Stability is good because we don’t need to make excessive effort to make a living. However, in this ever-changing world, there is nothing that will remain the same forever. When you are eventually forced to change, you may not have enough time or the capability to learn a new skill set to adapt to the new world.

 

Start from the dream you had

Do you remember your dream of the future when you were a teenager? “Yes, that was childish,” you may say. If we can measure the size of a dream, it would be biggest when you were young. As you age, this dream becomes smaller and smaller.

This is because you gain a clearer understanding of the world as you grow older. You come to know about competition and learn where your boundary lies. Day by day, your original ambitions get diminished by the cruelty of reality. You gradually lose your passion to explore the outside world, to pick up skills for your ambitions.

But your dreams are where your future starts. Your dream will guide you to the future. Your future is somewhere that is unpredictable but better than the present. It would be tragic if you still lead the same life you lead currently 10 years later.

Look around yourself, there are people younger than you, there are people older than you:

●      Now you are at the age of 25, your colleague now is at the age of 35, do you want to be living the same life 10 years later?

●      Now you are at the age of 35, your colleague now is at the age of 45, do you want to be living the same life 10 years later?

●      Now you are at the age of 45, your colleague now is at the age of 55, do you want to be living the same life 10 years later?

Your future starts from your heart, starts from today. Think about the future, think about what you can do, revive your dreams, your new job is under your feet now.

Who Provides a Job

 I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.

---- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

In society, some people work for other people; we can simply call this relationship as employment – the employees work for the employers. In this section, let us look at the “employer” in detail.

 

Who is the employer

Generally speaking, an employer is the owner of a business who provides work opportunities for others.

There are many types of business units. You have the government service department, big enterprises like public-listed corporations and small businesses like a retail store in the shopping center.

For convenience, we will just use “company” as a general business unit, meaning that when we say “employer”, they can be government officers to the civil servants, the human resource department of a corporation, or the shop owner to the salesperson.

 

Know your first employer

When you take up your first job, you are switching from the learning phase to the career phase. For most people, the first job does not last for long. This may be because you may not be comfortable when entering the career phase – you are still exploring the job market and trying to adapt to the new environment. However, you still need to take this opportunity to get to know your first employer. By doing this, you will be able to better adapt to your future employers and work with greater freedom later in your career phase. This is a necessary step you need to take, even if you may not want to create your own business to become an employer.

You need to find out the answer to the following questions:

● What is this business? What is the future of the business (in 5 years, 10 years, etc.)?

● What is the market for this company? What comparative advantage does this company have that differentiates it from the others?

● What is the culture of this company?

● Is the boss trying to boost employees’ morale to promote productivity or just to make use of the staff?

Bear these questions in mind as you work and try to answer them within 2-3 months after you have joined the company. These 2-3 months are normally the probation period in the employment contract, during which you can terminate the job with immediate notice without receiving a penalty.

From the answers, you will decide if you want to stay there or not.

My first job was working as a technician to develop a road light control system. Four fresh graduates worked under the boss who had just quit university one year before. It was a project-based development and we did not have a marketing staff. We were free most of the time, and playing computer games became routine when the boss was absent. If you check the above question list, you would find that there was little reason to stay in such a company for long.

 

What is the most important factor to confirm a job

Is there a perfect job? There may be but these are often difficult to find. A job needs your attention, your effort, your concentration, and your cooperation with your colleagues. This means you have to make a commitment and contribute to the job first, only then will you be able to harvest the fruits of your labor.

So there is no easy job, but when you consider a job, what is the most important factor?

Unfortunately, there is no definite answer to this. One man’s meat is another’s poison. If we look at some specific angles, however, there is something we may have a clearer answer to.

If you have chosen an industry, you can consider finding a “good” company to work for in the short term (e.g. for the next 1-3 years). In this context, I would say your direct boss (i.e. your supervisor) is the most important factor.

Focus on your supervisor during the probation period to see if you want to continue the job after that. Observe his or her attitude to your fellow colleagues – how he or she interacts with and promotes cooperation among the team, how he or she handles customers’ complaints… Consider these, and if you feel like your supervisor is good to work with, then you can confirm your stay with the company after the probation period.

If the company is big, you may consider looking to your supervisor’s boss for answers as well.

 

There's more than one way to skin a cat

If you never write, a pen is nothing to you. When you write, a pen is a tool for you to use; if the pen runs out of ink or is not comfortable to write with, you can throw it away and buy a new one.

The same relationship applies to you and your employer. Without employment, you don’t care who or what the employer is. The employer only matters to you when you are employed. But you don’t have to stick to one company. You have the right to terminate a service according to the employment contract you signed.

Note the company is not a charity, as an employee you should contribute and dedicate yourself to its business. Apply for a job only after you have conducted sufficient research on the company – you will not waste time trying out a company you would not work for that way.

 

What should an employer do

Once upon a time, I was an employer myself. I was a co-founder for a blooming company – the market niche was there, what we had to find was potential customers to help sell our services. However, frequent business socializing and the constant pressure of the next payment of rentals and employees’ salaries deteriorated my health. The business is now obsolete today.

It is not easy for the employer. The employer should be able to look far into the future to make sure the business has a future. In simpler terms, the employer needs to have a vision. Only by creating one can he progressively re-organize the company to adapt to the business evolution while maintaining its core foundations.

The employer then has to be kind to the employees if he or she really wants to realize their vision. The employees determine the strength of the company and are essential to making the employer’s vision come true. The employer should understand that happiness breeds productivity – it is a virtuous cycle. The vicious cycle is contrary: when one feels bad, everything he or she does becomes inefficient and may even go wrong. Hence, a boss who knows how to motivate the employees will benefit far more than those who exploit employees as tools.

If you are a boss and not aware of this, stop and ask yourself: in retrospect, was there anything I’ve done wrong? Did any staff I had valued leave due to management problems? Will my ambitions be delayed without a productive and collaborative team?

When Should You Take Up a Job

工欲善其事, 必先利其器

A workman must first sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well

--- Confucius

 

The trends of human lifespan

Human lifespan continues to increase due to the improvement of sanitation, medical care, and advancement of science and technology. In 1990-1995, the global life expectancy was 64.56. Now in 2020-2025, it is 73.16. The following picture (https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy) gives more details on global life expectancy over the past 200+ years:

Three phases of a life

We can roughly segment the human life into three phases:

●      Learning phase (age 0 - 25)

●      Career phase (age 25 - 65)

●      Retirement phase (age 65+)

When we were born, we were so weak that we were not capable of doing anything. Our parents take care of everything for us – they nurture us, clothe us, feed us, and send us to schools to learn skills and knowledge. This is the learning phase. We assume the first 25 years of our human lives are in the learning phase.

Then we will find a job to make a living, to support the family. We will build up our own family and have our children. This is the career phase. This phase is the most important phase in which human beings as a species inherit from one generation to the next. We assume the statutory retirement age is 65, so 40 years of your life are in the career phase.

As we grow older year by year, the body starts to deteriorate like how a machine gets rusty. We gradually lose competency in the work market, and eventually have no choice but to quit our jobs. This is the retirement phase.

Of course, there are exceptions. The above age range cannot reflect the practices of the whole mankind – it only illustrates a picture of the life of the common folk.  Many notable figures live out their lives following a different timeline. For example, Donald Trump and Joe Biden  were elected into US presidency at the age of 71 and 79 respectively; billionaire Li Ka-Shing retired at the age of 90; Chairman & CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, is now 91 years old; and its vice Chairman Charles Munger is now 97 years old this year (2021).

Few of us will come to lead a life like theirs. Most of us retire at age 65 and live up to age 80. By this timeline, half of our lives will be in the career phase. Is it too long, or too short? What does that mean to your whole life?

It means that this 40 years of your lifetime, during which you create value to this world, is a result of your first 25 years’ learning phase, and it also defines the standard of living in your last 15 years of retirement phase, e.g., how much money you could spend each month, how well you would live with your family and how happy you would pass every day.

 

Critical periods of language development

Have you ever noticed, as we age, it becomes harder and harder to pick up new skills? Scientists have found that speaking a language is a nature that can only be learned before a young age like 7. If one does not learn a language during these “critical periods of language development”, one cannot speak or even understand human languages in the later stages of life. This was the key finding from studies on people raised by animals like wolves, e.g., Wild Child of Aveyron.

There are people in isolated places who live an primordial lifestyle. Scientists find that some languages don’t even have quantitative concepts. For example, studies show that the Piraha people of the Amazon “were not able to do the one-to-one correspondence when the numbers were greater than two or three.” (University of Miami. "You can't do the math without the words: Amazonian tribe lacks words for numbers." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 February 2012.)

So make full use of the learning phase, it will be easier for you to pick up a skill and master it. In your career phase, the company may give you stable jobs for many years, and you may stop developing yourself during this long period. However, there is no permanent job in the world. At the end of the day, you will be kicked out because you don’t have the upgraded skills that the company needs.

 

Your first job

Many countries provide compulsory and free education for primary schools and secondary schools. If you live in such countries, you have no rush to find an employment job during this period. After that, you have the choice to further your education in universities or go for a job.

Some people would have no hesitation to find a job after secondary education at a typical age of 18 -- this could be a reason why in many countries, the age of attaining legal adulthood is 18. That is a natural choice for people in the following scenarios:

●      Academic performance is not good

●      Want to make money as soon as possible

●      Cannot afford the cost of university

●      No preference and there is a job opportunity so just take it

However, higher education has its pay off. Most of the companies give the basic salary according to the educational level. For example, monthly $1800 for a secondary school graduate while $3500 for a degree holder.

Once you take up a job, your career phase starts. But if you are still in school, and take up a part-time job, then you have an overlapped phase with both the learning phase and career phase.

 

Change a job

After you take up a job, you have a new role in your life, and you are making money to support yourself, and perhaps your family as well. However, this new role needs an alteration of your mindset. You need time to adapt to the new role, adapt to the new environment.

Very often, especially in your first job, you may quit the job because:

●      the situation is not satisfactory

●      the job does not meet your expectations

●      the job does not suit your skillset

●      too much time is spent on the transport

●      you do not like the company’s culture or environment

●      you are unable to work with the boss or the colleague

●      you feel dissatisfied with the salary etc.

You may then start to look for the next job. Some may, however, choose to go back to school to continue the learning phase for the following reasons:

●      To improve their skill set

●      To learn new knowledge in a different industry

●      To get a certificate of higher education for higher starting pay

 

Haste makes waste

In ancient China, there was a farmer, who was eager to help the plants grow faster. When the shoots broke out of the soil, he helped uproot them so they looked taller. This of course killed the plants.

This is the story behind the Chinese idiom: 拔苗助长 (Ba Miao Zhu Zhang). This lesson learnt is this: haste makes waste. Everything happens as they should, speeding up the procedure would cause a breakdown and result in a premature failure.

Before you look for a new job, make sure you have the required capability for it. If not, try to learn first, don’t be impatient.

 

Power of inertia

Do you remember Newton’s first law of motion? If there is no external force, a moving object will remain at its constant velocity and a stationary object will remain at rest. This is also called the law of inertia. 

When this law applies to your career, the result is obvious: if you are not forced to improve, you will slowly stagnate.. You may not even realize it until it is too late.

In the 19th century, there was a famous 6-year rebellion in England referred to as the Luddites. Due to the industrial revolution, weavers and artisans lost their jobs; they struggled and in the end, went out smashing the mechanized looms. More than 10,000 troops were deployed to suppress the Luddites.

In 1956, the invention of containers revolutionized the shipping industry, and the world’s supply chain became enormously efficient. However, many dockworkers in the port lost their jobs. They went on strike but it was all in vain – they eventually had to learn new skills for the new industry.

Remote working was once hailed by the futurists, but when the world was suddenly attacked by COVID-19, the world was forced to speed up the procedure. In one night, companies had to allow working from home as a default method.

As individuals, we are unable to stop the path of history. In this digital world, technology advances faster than ever, we have to adapt ourselves to the trend. We need to take an active attitude to learn from the daily tasks in our current jobs, and also keep an open mind to learning new technology.

If you are constantly preparing for the future every day, you will have no regrets in the future. When it is the time for you to change a career path, just do it!

 

Why You Need a Job

 

 Gaté Gaté Paragaté Parasamgaté Bodhi Svaha!

---- Heart Sutra

 

Human beings are first the animals

From the previous chapter, we learn that we are always “on the job” because we do many things that have the same attributes of a job, i.e., the activity, the action, and the reward. However, when we talk about “this” job, which is the employment job, we often forget these three attributes. It is like we human beings are animals in the first place, while we very often forget that.

When you walk around a park, do you notice the ants on the ground? They are crawling around everywhere; their legs never seem to get tired. Sometimes, they will stop to examine something with their antennae.

When they find a dead bug, they will try to move it to their home. If the body is too big or too heavy, there is some method for them to inform more ants of this food and they can work together to carry their food home.

These ants are worker ants. If the food is big enough, you will see a road of ants that connects the food and their nest. Some ants are bigger – these are soldier ants, which crawl around to protect the worker ants.

Here, we see a mini-society, a world with order and harmony. Ants work together on their tasks, cooperating to survive.

It is not different from human society.

 

We are in a world of cooperation

In the 19th century, American naturalist Henry David Thoreau in his book, Walden or Life in the Woods, described a natural world based around the lake he lived next to. He had built a small house for himself in the middle of the woods, as part of an experiment to see what it was like to live alone with minimum interaction with human society. The book inspired many generations to live as simply as possible; but Thoreau himself still greatly appreciated the moments of human interaction when he invited others for parties in his cabin.

With the development of modern science and technology, people are more and more dependent on each other. Everyone is connected in some way or other, existing as nodes in a massive, invisible web.  You may not realize you are part of this web until something happens

During the COVID-19 pandemic, to cut off the spread of the coronavirus, states called for their citizens to take their body temperature, wear masks, and keep a social distance from others, etc. When a country or a city went into lockdown, nobody could be seen on the once crowded streets, and the once busy roads became empty without a single car in sight.

When such restriction measures were enforced, people felt very inconvenienced; at the slightest easing of restrictions, many started gathering in the streets and shopping centers, causing infection rates to skyrocket and hence forcing the government to reinforce the restrictions.

This is a good example that people need to cooperate for a better living.  The impact of a single node in the web cannot be underestimated, we should all do our parts to overcome our challenges.

 

Laziness – an obstacle

If you have ever climbed up to the top of a mountain, or if you have sat on a window seat in an airplane, you would have had the chance to observe the earth from a bird’s eye view. You will notice the river bends here and there. Why is the river winding? Because the water simply flows along the path with the least resistance.

This is within our human nature as well – this laziness. It is as natural as water flows. In the morning, we get out of bed at the last minute; after breakfast, we would only wash the dishes when we need to start preparing for lunch; an excuse can be easily found to give up today’s fitness routine…such scenarios are common for most of us.

What will be the result? Well, in rich countries, the “diseases of affluence” are happening to more people and younger people, simply because the energy you have absorbed from the food is far more than what you have consumed. In nature, all animals have to struggle to survive. Human beings as a species can survive through hunting or being hunted, through taking risks of life and death, the human body is the result of millions of years of evolution, or maybe a product of God for people who disbelieve Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.

Advanced science and technology in recent one hundred years have saved us from natural hazards, various once deadly diseases, large-scale wars, and have supplied us with more and more food sources. However, our body is still like the body from thousands of years ago, it is not able to process excessive food. The abundance of food supply transforms into energy and accumulates in our body, so our body is now facing various diseases that did not exist thousands of years ago.

People tend to be lazy. The cause of such diseases is a result of a life of excessive comfort. The answer to solve it is then simple: keep yourself in a state of busyness.

Take action, and an employment job will keep you busy and disease-free.

 

Make life meaningful

You may have some idle time with nothing to do and you have to find something to kill time. Time will never stop for you, whether you are doing something or doing nothing.

If you often have to find something to do to kill time, you need an employment job. This job gives you a problem to solve making your life meaningful during the process. You have a target – a destination for a boat – so you won’t get lost in the vast sea.

I used to work with subway systems, where many site works had to be done at midnight after the subway stopped service. When I was on my way back to the hotel in the morning, I saw people on their way to the office. At that time, I felt a sense of satisfaction: it was a small contribution from me to this city, to these people, that they were able to take reliable public transportation to get to their destinations on time, even though they may not know a tired person was only just going home to rest.

Thinking of this, the tiredness seemed somehow reduced.

 

Live with dignity   

In modern countries, the government would have some policies targeting the weaker groups of people to help them enjoy at least a basic standard of living. If you meet the eligibility criteria, you could apply for such support from the government or charity. In the world, some people do need this kind of support.

By turning to these policies, you are asking people to support you. While you are not breaking the law, you may feel a sense of guilt. There are no physical problems preventing you from taking up a job, yet you have to burden others to care for you.

You have the strengths, the capabilities, and the opportunities.

You are in the web of the world. You are connecting to others, and others are connecting with you. You need to create value in this web, and then you can live with dignity. By getting an employment job you could be able to live on your own. With this job, you can pay taxes to the government and contribute to society to help others.

With that said, when should you take up this job?

What Is a Job

  

All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be.

---- Henry David Thoreau

 

Three attributes of a job

A job is a regular activity that you can earn money from after you do it. Do it, then you get paid.

You may be a civil servant. Every day you go to the office, serve the people, and monthly your salary will be credited to your bank account. Normally you will have a steady income, unless the government gets bankrupt, which is rare.

You may be a salesperson, e.g. real estate agent. You find your customers, either someone who wants to buy a house, or someone who wants to sell their house. You help them complete the deal, then you get the commission. The more deals you process, the more you earn.

You may be self-employed, e.g. a home baker. You bake cakes at home, and sell them to friends, first-time customers, or shops. The more cakes you make and sell out, the more you earn.

Therefore, we know there are three attributes for a job from these examples:

●    Activity: something that is to be done, either a service (helping to sell a house or buy a house) or a product (quality cakes to sell)

●     Action: you do it by spending your time and effort 

●     Reward: then you receive something in return for your efforts (normally in the form of money) 

If you are employed, you already understand the above 3 attributes of your job. Here let us see if the job concept can be widely applied to your daily activities.

Is daydreaming a job

You daydream for 30 minutes, you spend 30 minutes of your life on the daydream, are you doing a job? Depends on who you are.

If you are Bill Gates, not only daydreaming, dreaming while you sleep is also equal to working. For people like him, everything he does means something. Ideas may come to him whenever and wherever, regardless if he is sleeping, reading, eating, or playing. When he does come up with something new, he has the means to make his ideas into reality.

However, for us common people on the street, we are rarely able to realize our daydreams. You can daydream every day, but our daydreams stay as they are. The next day, the next year, we remain the same nobodies – daydreaming for us is hence not a job. As long as we don’t take action, our daydreams will never come true and there will be no rewards to reap from them.

Nevertheless, this is not saying that there are absolutely no benefits to daydreaming. Daydreaming can be good for your health. You can daydream to calm yourself down, to get temporary relief from stress. For example, meditation or mindfulness. During the course, you know exactly what meditation or mindfulness is (activity), and you do the meditation or mindfulness (action), then you will feel refreshed or happy after that (reward).

What if I take action after daydreaming?

Then it could be different. If your dream has a clear goal, it is an activity. If you start to do it, it is an action. You can see now, it has the two attributes of a job.

Then how about the third attribute: the reward? Is it necessary? Yes, it is. That is the consequence of your action and your action is always followed by a consequence.

Good job, normal job, and bad job

Very often, you will hear people say, "You have done a good job, man!", or "That's a bad job!” That is, in daily life, whatever you do can fit into the concept of "job". Life is made up of jobs.

In the morning when you wake up, you begin your daily life. And your daily jobs are starting. Everything you do is a job. Brushing your teeth makes you fully awake in the morning; physical exercise builds up your body; eating food re-energizes you. You will then take transport to the office, start working for the company, and as a result, the company will pay you every month...

How much reward you receive from the action will define if it is a good job. When the reward is good and even exceeds people's expectations, that is a good job. On the other hand, when something is below people's expectations, that is a bad job.

You bought a stock yesterday, today the price surges up, and you make a great deal of money, you will feel happy -- you have done a "good job".

When you cook a seldom eaten and delicious meal, your family will say "good job" to you. 

When you prepare milk and bread for breakfast, your family sits together to consume the food, it is a "normal job", i.e., an everyday routine procedure.

However, when you fry eggs but overcook them, you do a "bad job". 

This job

That being said, you may ask, "Is this the job you want to explain to us in your series?" Now let's look at it seriously. 

Normally when people talk about a job, they are referring to an employment job. An employment job is a job in a narrower sense – a more specific job:

 

●       Activity: It is assigned by employers, normally it is a routine procedure, but may change from time to time depending on the employers. The employer may give the employees different tasks with different schedules

●       Action: The employee is required to carry out the task in the office provided by the employer, and with the necessary tools available, within due time

●   Reward: The employer will pay salary at a fixed duration, monthly payment is prevalent in most countries for most of the employees 

Employers and employees

Monkeys are social animals; a group of monkeys is led by a king, who rules the family. This can be seen as an ancient prehistoric human group. 

With the development of human history, different social systems have evolved over the centuries; however, the original rule remains the same: some people work for some other people. In the modern world, it is called "employment", which includes the employers who register a company and give the jobs, and the employees who take the jobs and work for the company. We call the employee staff.

There are different kinds of staff:

●    Contract staff: works for the company for a certain duration as specified in the contract with the company, e.g. one year

●       Permanent staff: works for the company with permanent duration as specified in the contract with the company

●    Outsource staff: works for the company for a certain duration as specified in the contract with the agency (not with the company)

The freelancer is a special contract staff –they sign a contract with the company for a particular task (e.g. to provide a working APP to trace the staff's body temperature daily for a month), they do not have to report to the company every day.

In any case, nowadays every employment job is contract-based. When you sign a contract with the company, make sure you understand all the clauses listed in the contract. 

  

Who is a boss

Human society has a hierarchical structure: the higher-ups generally control those at the lower levels. These higher-ups may also be more commonly termed "bosses". Therefore, the boss is a relative concept. You are a programmer, your manager is your boss; for your manager, his supervisor is his boss. In addition, your boss's boss is still your boss :)

For the purpose of simplification, we will use “employer” and “boss” to mean the same thing in this series.

About 5W1H of a Job

 We all have to do something to make a living -- you either employ others or be employed. It is so natural that nobody would ask, "What is the nature of jobs?" In this serial, I am going to dive where no one else has explored and see whether employees can open their minds and conduct daily duties happily, and if employers could rethink from the employee's perspective and realize company goals without forgoing employees' welfare.

I came to this idea after decades of experience as a short-term employer and long-term employee (of course, not concurrently). One day, I was so stressed that the thought of "quitting and being free" flashed across my mind. Lost time is never found again -- did a stressful job deserve my precious time? What is the opportunity cost of my current job? Can my experience benefit more people than just focusing on my current job?

Seeking the answers could present an interesting journey or a boring and useless one. Nevertheless, it would be a needed experience. I decided to do it, hence this serial: 5W1H of a job.

 

What to expect from this serial

 

This serial will include six chapters as 5W1H:

• What is a job?
• Why do you need a job?
• When should you take up a job?
• Who provides a job?
• Where can you find a job?
• How can you enjoy a job?

 

If you are looking for a job, or you are interested in the above-mentioned topics, this serial is for you.

 

Why you should read this serial

 

Looking at the above chapter titles, you may wonder, isn’t it obvious we need a job to survive? Are several thousands of words really necessary to answer these questions?

I would like you to google about such topics and see how many articles already elaborate on how you look for a job, how to prepare your CV, how to answer interview questions, how to work with your boss, your colleagues, etc. 

As you have reached here, I believe you are a curious person who is a small portion of the adult human being. Trust me, read on, and you will clear one question in your mind now: what 50% of the people on earth like me are thinking about the job? Do you know what Sunzi said in Art of War? “Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.”

 

Make your version

 

As you read on, you may not agree with my opinions in this serial. It is fine. If you've never looked into such a proposition as “5W1H of a job”, this is the time for you to do it now.

Also, you may not need to read further, just stop and think about these questions so that you would not be affected by my opinions -- your next decision may change, and thus your life.